Originally Posted by bulgie

Funny that your pic shows a steel cage, and a box for the light alloy one. I doubt that cage came out of that box from the factory, unless they screwed up.

But yes, uprightbent shows a real TA light-alloy, in black-ano. The black ones came with the gold plastic keeper, where the silver-ano alloy cages had a black keeper. White keeper on steel cages, which predate the alloy ones by 30 or more years.

TA cages are one of the more frequently copied bike parts ever, not so much anymore but in the C&V era. Almost all the knock-offs used a cheaper way to join the bent-wire part to the plate with the holes where it attaches to the frame. Steel TAs are brazed before chrome-plating; alloy ones are welded*. Knock-offs usually have the plate part sort of wrapped around and staked or peened onto the wire part.

* I think there may have been some real TA alloy cages with the cheaper method, staked-on bottom plate, very late in their run. So maybe not every single alloy TA is welded, but almost all were. The OP's cage is welded. I don't think I've ever seen one of the knock-offs that was welded.

EDIT: Yes, the TA pages at BlackbirdSF shows a TA alloy cage with the bottom plate warapped and staked, not welded. I don't know if the welded ones are intriniscally better, but I'd say they're more desireable/collectable. The staked ones just look cheap.

Mark B